We're not ones to hold back the march of technology, even when it comes to our beloved comic books. Having them electronically delivered to our beautiful retina display devices is a dream come true. But we can't help but raise an eyebrow at Valiant Entertainment's new talking comic book cover.

Created for issue #1 of the company's X-O Manowar comic, to be fair, the comic doesn't actually include any kind of speaker technology like a musical greeting card. Instead, readers are encouraged to place their iPhone on the cover, where—thanks to augmented reality tricks—the character's mouth is replaced with an animated version that provides a prelude to the comic's story.

At this point it's more of a marketing gimmick than anything, but how long before augmented comics start to become more popular? What do you think? Is this a novel stunt, or is it taking comic books down a dangerous path? [YouTube via BoingBoing]